LFGSS Camper Van owners?

I guess you have to think about a few things carefully to do it:

1. How big a van? To live in in you will need a shower or basic washing facilities at least (guess a gym membership could get round a shower)
   
2. Where are you going to park it? Wild or on sites? Most sites are not open 12 months a year and some have limitations on length of stays
   
   

We do have one older guy down here who stays in a transit conversion year round, he has about 4 places he regularly parks, mainly in lay-bys, he seems happy enough doing it.

As IdealStandard mentioned, is all about the fridge, if you have a compressor you will be ok, but a condenser really eats the power. I had a chat with with a company at The motorhome show last year and they told me 130w would be best. We bought a cheap 150w folding panel from eBay, we ran off it for 4 days last weekend, 2 of those days were heavy rain. The battery never went below 3/4 charge. My advice would be to go for the biggest panel you can afford.

showers could be got around (gym,work), toilet would be more of an issue, no? wouldnt want to be caught short. plan would be to park it on quiet suburban streets.

We travelled full time in a motor home for a while. Our work at the time was possible from a laptop when we got wifi.
There are loads of full-timers around where I live now.
I'm jealous, it was a wonderful experience.

Portaloo? Make a little partitioned area?

Thanks.
Yes the battery is pretty small. I'll look at the fridge today. Perhaps I'll look at a bigger battery at the same time. The space it's in right now is pretty snug so that might put a stop to that idea.

I know people who do this full time in Bristol and find it ok, although the guy who I know who does it long term has a workshop space where he can touch base and park up out of the city and spread out.

Having lived and travelled in our van for six months this year I would hesitate to do it in London long term. In summer you basically can't be inside with the doors closed due to the heat, but if you're just on the street you can't easily spread out. Winter will get pretty claustrophobic too.

Why not get a boat? Boat living in London is great.

Edit: When we've been in cities on normal streets it does always feel a bit exposed, I'm sure you get used to it, but for me being in a van is about being in the middle of nowhere.

I'm in Reading, but much of the same issues apply.

A boat would, I think, be my ideal situation, but much more expensive outlay.

Uh, go for it man, let us know how you get on.

The only time I’ve considered this is renovating a warehouse and temporarily living on site in the van. But seriously if you are willing to make yourself homeless for three years in order to pay for a campervan, you must really want to own a campervan 🤣

What will you do after the van is paid off? will you go back to living in a house or will you continue to live in a van?

I realise it all sounds daft. I'd like to have my own, small, place to live rather than renting, although I am happy enough in my studio flat. Campervan / boat would seem to be more affordable. Plus either of those could be used for holidaying.

It doesn’t sound daft at all, I’ve lived in a boat and in a van and loved both. I’d just massively push you towards a boat if you’re considering doing it in London though.

Boats guarantee a sense of community, a feeling that you have a right to be there and generally amazing locations surrounded by green space.

I've got a T3. Love it.

That's badass

thanks man!

NDS fail.

That's pretty rad indeed.

Nice. Syncro or just chunky tyres? I miss my T3 :(

here's the "drive" side

It's not Syncro - 2WD standard height but with 16" steels and 70% profile tyres. cruises happily at 67mph.
I'm thinking of converting it to a Subaru engine.

That’s awesome. Yeah, get a scooby engine and some brakes in it ;)

I seriously hope my t5 ages as gracefully as your t3

Yeah it definitely needs brakes if I swap the engine.
I like T5s. Is yours a camper?

Where does the rad go in a Scooby swap?

It’s already water cooled so there is a big rad up the front with two large cooling pipes (feed and return) that run the length of the van.
It’s a diesel golf engine in there at the moment.

This is ours. Gonna be sad to see her go, passing on to anothe forumenger to carry on the adventures.

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